AMP TECHNICIAN

[bobofhollywood]

I would like to have some experienced service men please help me fix my spinning issue with the Maytag AMP.

It's a clean machine and should be straight forward to service, if you have the tools and experience.

I THINK something's wrong with the t-key or torque spring. Symptom is it won't spin properly. Also, there's an issue with the mercury switch water level mechanism.

Thanks guys & gals.

Bob

 

[westytoploader]

Hi Bob,

Did you defeat the safety mercury switch on the lid? Those things kill all the action, so I did it to my '55; not too bad as far as difficulty is concerned. I'm glad you were able to successfully separate the tubular plastic connectors on the wiring harness though; I had the toughest time with those things! Luckily I only broke and had to "hard-wire" one of them.

After you remove the two screws that hold the two lid-halves together and separate them (top half comes off), you'll see something similar to this, except with no spring/arm assembly for the water level control. The safety mercury switch is the one at the front and the one you want to defeat...there are two wires going to it, but the material is different from the wiring on the rest of the machine because I noticed these were very brittle. Instead of removing the wires completely, I took the mercury switch out, cut the wires, and spliced them together as shown here.

You will have to fill with the lid closed; with the lid up it will start agitating because the fill mercury switch is tripped as well. Also, you can watch part of the spin, but the lid has to be closed for the spray rinse as well as when it stops so the motor can shut off for braking. What's funny is that the safety mercury switch basically controls the timer, and there is really no "off" position on the timer unless you push it in. Even in the "off" position with the dial pulled out, it will start agitating and the timer will advance.

I'll post how I fixed the no-spin situation in a separate post as the explanation will be a lot longer!

Perhaps a fix-in (complete with a maiden load run) is in order later in the summer? That would be fun if quite a few members near you are going! I'll be able to go in July depending on whether Southwest has decent rates to Maryland...LOL.

--Austin

 

[westytoploader]

Oops...

Guess a picture would help!

 

[bobofhollywood]

lid switches

Thanks man.

July does sound good to me for fix-in.

I'll try to get more liquid wrench today (out of rust buster) and a larger straight screwdriver so that I may get past those 2 pesky screws holding the lid halves together. I haven't been able to get past those yet, so nothing's been by-passed or altered in any way.

Mine's a little different in that there is no variable water level and the wires do not go through the hinges either - they go through a specially provided stainless steel conduit near the center.

From what I can tell by looking at the manual, a fella has to take the entire transmission out of the baseplate in order to get at that Tee-key - and in order to do that, you have to lift the washtub and transmission assembly straight out. I'm SURE I'll need additional manpower to do that - either that, or a wench.

Thanks.

Bob

 

[westytoploader]

Actually the tub and transmission don't have to come out in order to access the T-key...I guess it made it easier for the repairman but I think it's just a lot of unnecessary work. When my '55 wouldn't spin the first time around, I removed the cabinet. The second time it started "clickety-clacking", I only had to remove the front panel. Hopefully this won't happen a third time; otherwise I'm going to have to go to a machine shop to have a new one made.

Does the collar move freely? It should *immediately* drop down when you push the solenoid plunger in and bounce right up when you let go of the solenoid. If it slides down slowly, that is part of the no-spin problem and it needs lubrication. Spray PB on it first to clean it/loosen it up and then use something like 3-in-1 electric motor oil (not the "Multipurpose" type) or Zoom Spout oil.

The T-key repair can be done easily from right under the machine. In the picture you posted you can see two screws. The large screw on top is the stop bolt. Remove that one. Next, look at the side opposite the stop bolt. You should see the spin collar. Since you probably won't be able to see the T-key yet, hold the solenoid plunger in and turn the brake drum to rotate the tub . When you are able to see the T-key, let go of the solenoid and use either your hand or a small flathead screwdriver to raise the collar up. When the collar is fully raised, you can put the stop bolt back in to hold it up. Get a pair of needle-nose pliers, grab the T-key, turn it either left or right, and pull it out. Remember the direction you put it in, turn it around, re-insert it, and turn it until it is in a full vertical position and "locked" into place. Remove the stop bolt if you used it to hold the collar up, and jiggle the collar back & forth until it drops back down if it hasn't done so already. Re-insert the stop bolt, and voila, all done! Plug it in and see if it spins...it should!

One word of caution: with the T-key out, do not attempt to turn the tub or pull the trip arm!

--Austin

 

[westytoploader]

Another interesting piece of information

Did you notice how the torque spring worked in the service manual? I thought it was strange; instead of the usual torque spring grabbing the outside of the tub shaft to get the machine to spin, it expands and grabs the inside of the spin tube.

 

[bobofhollywood]

EXPERT ADVICE

Dude...you are indeed an expert.

I applaud you openly.

I'll try to do that turning of the Tee-key either later today or later this weekend and will post about the results.

Thanks a million.

Bob

 

[bobofhollywood]

spin collar

My collar was stuck....not moving a bit.

Now it's freely moving up and down with the actuation of the arm, and causing the tee-kee to affirmatively engage the torque spring, causing it to unwind and engage the spin tube!~ Yay~!

I bet when I put the cabinet back on here momentarily it'll work this time. I feel foolish. If I had only listened to what you said in the FIRST posting you offered me...some of this could have been avoided. Inexperienced 43 year old dudes can be hard of learning occassionally.

Thank you again man for all your help.

Oh ya..and I did get the lid open too..and yes my wires are petrified. I'll replace those with soft ones by cutting up an appliance cord I have around here like you'd use on an electric frying pan..those are really supple, and solder carefully onto the switches. More later.

Thanks again.

 

[westytoploader]

No problem! Glad to be of assistance, and good luck; hopefully it will work this time and you'll be able to use it! If it's making a "clickety-clack" noise at *any time* when it's shifting into spin, then it will probably need the T-key fix if the collar moves freely. Mine did a LOT of clickety-clacking on two separate occasions but still spun successfully, and I was puzzled to hear no other reports of this problem, only that it wouldn't spin. Turns out that noise is made when the T-key isn't firmly engaging with the spin tube, and after a couple of clicks it finally does engage. I looked at the T-key and saw a notch in one side...there was the problem!

 

[bobofhollywood]

up

collar up - look in the vertical rectangular 'window'

 

[bobofhollywood]

down

collar down

 

[bobofhollywood]

and inside the un-restored lid

a rare and beautiful sight - complete with the delicate patina of nearly 60 years of smegma build-up.

I had a feeling I would not get away without replacing these wires...so here I go...

more later.